Kitchen Details That Make a Difference

Carved cabinetry, a charming chalkboard, and some tasty tins.

Smart details take these already-great kitchens to the next level. See more of our best kitchen ideas here.

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Texas Kitchen with a French Connection

This Dallas kitchen has a little something extra on the walls. "It's old reclaimed tile from France that was probably on the floor of some château," says designer Shannon Bowers. "I wanted the feeling of an old-world kitchen. It was kind of a gutsy direction for me, to do such a bold backsplash. My palette is usually more subdued. But when I saw that tile — the colors, the simplicity, the realness of it — I knew I had to have it for this kitchen."

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Myriad Mosaic Tiles in a Los Angeles Kitchen

Designer Janet Metson Urman spiced up this Los Angeles kitchen with a rainbow of colored tiles. "We already knew the materials for the counters, stainless steel, and the cabinets, Douglas fir, so we pulled colors that would work well with those," she said. "In the end we chose thirteen different colors from the Lake Garda collection through Ann Sacks: ochre, chrome green, sandalwood, palazzo gray, lemonade, crocus, olive, bay leaf, papaya, amber, passion fruit, chamois, and twilight rose."

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James Carriere

Custom Range

The La Cornue range was handmade in France to designer Susan Dossetter's specifications. "It's so beautiful, it's almost like jewelry for the kitchen." Co-designed by Andrew Skurman.

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Savvy Shelving

These open shelves in House Beautiful style director Newell Turner's kitchen in the Catskills are an important detail — they let in light and keep the conversation going between Turner and his guests while dinner's cooking. "I like to visit with my guests while I cook, but I don't want them to see the mess," Turner says.

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Kitchen with a Vintage Touch

Vintage furniture is the detail that brings out the best in this kitchen in a Normandy-style Atlanta home. Designer Suzanne Kasler reinvents the eat-in kitchen by mixing formal Louis XV-style dining chairs, played down in Donghia's Relaxed Linen in Storm, with a 19th-century French farm table and silver-leaf Capucine chandelier from Niermann Weeks.

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A Soulful Kitchen Detail

Cupboards made of salvaged wood and chicken wire, filled with a hodgepodge of china, add rustic detail to this Los Angeles kitchen. "I wanted something old and battered," says designer Hillary Hayne. "Barnwood? Been there, done that. Then Tony Farmer, my cabinetmaker, said he had a source out East for wood from a tobacco shed. I love that warm gray patina. It's very soulful."

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Retro and Renewable

A bamboo island top adds an attractive and durable detail to a Chicago kitchen with a homey, retro feel. The end-grain bamboo is not only resistant to scratches and moisture, but is a quickly renewable natural resource. "It's environmentally correct, and harder than maple, which cracks and is more difficult to work with in terms of machining and joining. And nothing can beat the look of end-grain bamboo, with its natural feathered pattern," says designer Mick de Giulio.

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Carved Cabinetry

Elegant, carved cabinetry in this Connecticut kitchen is the one detail that takes us straight into French château country. "I design and make all of my own cabinetwork, copying classic French design," designer Beverly Ellsley says. The corner detail on the island is from Ellsley's Villa collection for Enkeboll, painted with gray-blue paint that has been rubbed off, crackled, and finished with a raw umber glaze.

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James Carriere

A Kitchen for a Collector

The antique oak cabinet, originally made for a French store, is perfect for a collector. Designer Susan Dossetter found the reproduction Windsor chairs in Nantucket and had the table made to work with the chairs and the cabinet in this kitchen. Co-designed by Andrew Skurman.

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Classic Peacock Detail

This Christopher Peacock kitchen in Chappaqua, New York, has the soft, mellow feel of a beloved antique, and the chalkboard on the pantry cupboard — a Peacock signature — is a detail that adds approachability.

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Rugged Rope Handles

Rope handles on cabinets, selected by interior designer Erin Martin, top off the adventurous look of this outdoor kitchen in Calistoga, California.

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Dominique Vorillon

Theatrical Kitchen

Architecture and applied ornament conspire to make this kitchen romantic and a touch theatrical. Designed by Erin Martin.

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A Sweet Kitchen Treat

"I wanted to make this heavenly Candy Land," Jamie Gottschall says of her Pennsylvania kitchen, featured as the House Beautiful Kitchen of the Month in June 2006. "I wanted people to walk in and feel like they could lick the walls, like it was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."

One important detail was this collection of tins. "I have very weird luck with things," Gottschall says. "After the kitchen was done I had nothing to put in the shelves under the island. I walked into Marshall's and there were these pink and white striped tins and I just about fell over. They say Laundry on one side, so Joyce Danko, the muralist, labeled the other side with the names of French pastries and delicacies."

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